A Lesson in Humility
In 1982, while teaching in Caracas, Venezuela I met a man by the name of Rodolfo Rodriguez. He was the Venezuela black belt fighting champion and number one student of my friend Oscar Gonzalez. Oscar’s school, in Caracas, was quite large and had approximately 600 students, so to be the number one student was quite an accomplishment.
During the weeks that I was teaching at Oscar’s school I learned as much as I taught and probably more. I taught them Ed Parker’s Kenpo and they taught me the true meaning of humility. Although the lessons were many, I’d just like to tell you about one.
As I've stated, Rodolfo Rodriguez was a guy who had paid his dues. A superb black belt who had not only earned the respect of everyone is his school, but in his community as well. A good looking athletic young man, Rodolfo had distinguished himself as a champion at tournaments, teacher to his peers, protégé to Oscar and a friend to everyone. At the time, Rodolfo was a 1st degree black belt and unlike most schools I’ve known, they actually title their certificates not only as to rank, but . . . continued
Concepts, Theories and Principles
By Rich Hale
The Outer Rim; is it a Concept, a Theory, or a Principle?
As listed in Mr. Parker's Encyclopedia of Kenpo it's called the Outer Rim Concept and is described as: An imaginary egg shape circle that is used as a visual aid. This egg shaped pattern starts at the eyebrow level, and ends slightly below the region of the groin. This concept teaches you to confine the defensive movements to those areas within the imaginary circle. You learn never to overextend, nor over-commit, beyond the circle with your arms and hands.
At face value, because Mr. Parker called it the Outer Rim Concept, this would seem to put the question to rest, but not really? Not to be argumentative, but I consider the Outer Rim to be a principle. So who am I to argue with Mr. Parker? Nobody really, but I'm not actually arguing with him anyway, I'm agreeing with him. And how can I possibly say I'm agreeing with him when, right there in black and white, he says the Outer Rim is a Concept? Easy, because if you continue to study the Encyclopedia of Kenpo, and eventually get to Zones of Protection, you'll see that Mr. Parker tells you, "when considering Zones of Protection, refer to the Outer Rim Theory". Which, in itself, really doesn’t prove my case, but if you go back a ways and look up Outer Perimeter you'll see that Mr. Parker said "not to confuse the Outer Perimeter with the Outer Rim Principle".
So there you have it; according to Mr. Parker, who's certainly the final authority on the subject, the Outer Rim is a Concept, a Theory and a Principle, but I'm sticking to my guns and saying that (to me) the Outer Rim is neither a Concept nor a Theory, but definitely a Principle.
Let me explain by first going back and looking at Mr. Parker's descriptions of Concept, Theory and Principle.
Concept: An abstract idea, conceived in the mind, that is neither protected nor trademarked . . . continued
